Multiplatform What sort of games have you found yourself playing more as you get older?

Mack Yancy

Mack Yancy

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I keep hearing talk about how middle aged men who have never touched a game in their lives seem to really be into 'slow west' type games (RDR2 is the most obvious example, but that's generally popular). Which got me thinking, are there games that appeal specifically to older people? I'm in no way 'old' but I'm not a young 20 year old anymore, and I noticed I play a lot more 'slower paced' strategy games now than before.



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So how about you? Where do you see your old ass gaming trends heading?
 
I pretty much play the same kind of games (Very fps-centric but happy to try anything besides most platformers and fighting games (I suck at them)). The biggest change as I've gotten older is I don't play much multiplayer anymore, and I also shy away from lengthy games mostly because I have the Steam backlog mentality where I want to finish games quickly and move onto the next
 
I like co-op and story driven games.

I used to do competitive play, but it's too serious for me now. I try to avoid stress.

Yakuza series and Stardew Valley have dominated my schedule over the last couple of years.
 
Zer said:
I pretty much play the same kind of games (Very fps-centric but happy to try anything besides most platformers and fighting games (I suck at them)). The biggest change as I've gotten older is I don't play much multiplayer anymore, and I also shy away from lengthy games mostly because I have the Steam backlog mentality where I want to finish games quickly and move onto the next
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So you're saying you play Unreal Tournament on single player?

<SelenaWow>
 
Wrath of Foamy said:
I like co-op and story driven games.

I used to do competitive play, but it's too serious for me now. I try to avoid stress.

Yakuza series and Stardew Valley have dominated my schedule over the last couple of years.
Click to expand...

I really want to like that game, but I struggle when I'm not given any direction of what I'm supposed to do/
 
Mack Yancy said:
So you're saying you play Unreal Tournament on single player?

<SelenaWow>
Click to expand...

Funnily back when the original UT released it was before I had internet so I had no choice but to play against bots, but it was a blast and I played the shit out of it

When I was younger I played tons of Counterstrike, Day of Defeat and Battlefield MP. But the last MP game I put loads of time into was Battlefield 4
 
I'm finding that it's less about what kind of game it is and more about how well done it is, regardless of genre. I'm not trying to be snobbish. In the past year or so, these have been the games that have absolutely gripped me, I mean I couldn't put them down

Elden Ring
Signalis
Chained Echoes
Resident Evil 4 Remake
Pentiment
ToTK

Now that I think about it, these are all (largely) single player, so there's that.
 
I’ve found myself playing games with lots customization recently. I’ve found that stuff like that helps me Zen out after work or if I’m feeling anxious…

I’ve been playing a lot of Super Mega Baseball, PGA Tour 2K. I barely even play the actual game, I just spend my time creating new teams, customizing my characters, and in PGA experimenting with stuff to see how to improve the next round…

When Gran Turismo 7 came out a few years ago, I would spend most of my time fixing up the cars than I did racing them…

That being said, I’ve always been a big fan of customization. Fire Pro-wrestling Returns came out when I was fresh out of a high school, and I spend ridiculous amounts of time with that game’s character creator.
 
Mack Yancy said:
I really want to like that game, but I struggle when I'm not given any direction of what I'm supposed to do/
Click to expand...

Stardew?

I start by gathering on the first day, then selling what is gathered to Pierre and trying to get one of every crop.

On the second day? I go to the docks and fish, hard, and then run up to level 80 on the mines to make gold, silver and refined quartz ores for the quality sprinklers, whilst also farming to get to level 6 to unlock them.

After that? It's just a case of getting what is needed for the community centre. I aim to do it in a year but it isn't an issue if not.
 
After my ankles were completely knackered I was yearning for competition, found FPS. I’d always prefer slower paced games but as I got old it’s my way of still kicking the bejesus out of fools. Maybe the reverse of your example but still kind of supports the point, my gaming habits definitely changed.

I find a lot of games get boring quick now, I need a fast pace. Maybe it says more about my gaming habits right now rather than my age?
 
I loved RTS and RPGs the most growing up. I loved pouring dozens of hours into each one and seeing my gameplay improve and my character getting stronger but now I prefer action games that are within the 15 - 20 hour range. Some of the games I fell in love with over the past few years are Nioh, Nier Automata, Returnal, Lies of P, etc. It's weird how my attention span is worse now than it was when I was a child.

I still do love JRPGs but I'm actually one of few that gets excited when I hear news about a game being on the shorter side. I recently bought Granblue Fantasy Relink and the main story is supposedly only about 20 hours. If I hear about a game being 100+ hours I usually avoid it no matter how great it may be. I know that BG III is most likely fantastic but I will never buy it because I know I won't finish it.
 
I just want to play games that can stand the test of time. Lately I have been going back through the PSX and PS2 libraries in that search, and I am slowly putting together a library that (by my tastes) is the "perfect" game library. I plan going through just about every console generation and unpacking the large world of PC gaming alongside each console generation to help keep things organized. Genre-wise, there is much more variety in the games I play now than ever. I just want meaningful, impactful gameplay. FromSoft RPGs scratch that itch, but so do a lot of Mario games, the Ratchet & Clank classics, etc. I feel like I have learned to appreciate more styles of gameplay over the years. Maybe my tastes will refocus once this game library project is complete, we will see.
 
Alot more strategy or random management type games. XCom is like fine wine to me. I also like very fast paced games like a Doom Eternal.
 
Well I'm 40 but I've been playing games since the late 80's, so not sure if I meet the criteria.

I like games that I can get in and out of quick. It's harder for me to get sucked into immersive shit, so prefer stuff like fighting games which I've always been a huge fan of. I do like playing a lot of older games emulated as well.
 
I've been playing PC games (mostly, some console games at friends places) and arcade games for almost as long as they existed, so definitely not in the category of "middle aged men who have never touched a game in their lives".
These days I mostly play VR games, although I noticed that there's a lot of nostalgia content in my library.
From VR arcade and emulator platforms like EmuVR and RetroVRArcade through to VR boomer shooters like Compound or Amid Evil VR and out and out retro titles like Pixel Ripped 1978, 1989 and 1995.
Still some flatscreen gaming, although there's nostalgia content there too. I've played a ridiculous number of hours of the Roguetech mod for Battletech, which was a pretty faithful reconstruction of a game I played tabletop with friends in the '80s-'90s (and got one of my nephews into the more streamlined table top version recently).
If I've aged out of anything, it's probably that I don't play in public instances of online multiplayer games like I used to, because I find them full of poorly raised children.
 
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